Luke Haines was never supposed to be cheerful. As one of Britpop's most unlikely leading lights in his role as the Auteurs frontman, Haines seemed to spend much of the decade wearing the kind of frown most people only pull when investigating whether the milk has gone off.

Now, nearly 15 years on from the high water marks of Blur vs Oasis, Haines is still with us; a little thicker round the middle, a little less thatch on top, but much less grumpy, it seems.

Haines was an always an acerbic and off-kilter frontman, and Auteurs gigs were rarely full of urbane story-telling or jokey bonhomie. But on Thursday night at Kilburn's Luminaire, he seemed in positively rude good humour.

Following last summer's successful Blur reunion, guitarist Graham Coxon has said that he's hoping for more from the band in 2010.

Speaking in an interview with NME magazine the Coxon said he was up for the prospect of another get together. "Everyone has gone back to their day jobs from the Blur thing," he said. "Damon's really involved with Gorillaz stuff, so that's obviously taking up a lot of his time and energy. But I'm open to suggestions as far as next year goes."

Legendary London venue The Halfmoon is set to become another victim of the current harsh economic climate. According to the its owners, the venue will cease promoting gigs after Jan. 31 next year.

The venue's sound engineer Redvers Bailey spoke of his affection for the venue saying: "I can't think of many venues I've been to which can cater for professional touring bands and rising unsigned bands and are willing to treat the two no differently."

After a hugely successful 2009 Florence Welch can't wait to usher in 2010. The singer is planning to start the New Year in a recording studio -- with her band Florence and the Machine -- in order to begin work on the follow up to her breakthrough debut 'Lungs.'

The south London singer told BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat that everything is pretty much ready to go: "We're recording the second album in January. Got the plan, I just want to start recording as soon as possible."

Florence and the Machine wind up 2009 with 'Lungs' one of the best-selling debuts of the year and a UK tour in December, their biggest to date. They head off to the US and Australia in the spring for more live engagements.

Artist: Bluebrain
Song: 'Bring Out Your Dead'
Album: 'Cult Following EP'
Sounds Like: TV on the Radio, Boards of Canada

Download: 'Bring Out Your Dead' (MP3)

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'Gavin and Stacey' writer and actor James Corden has followed in the footsteps of Martha Wainwright and Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole by becoming the third vocalist to sing with Snow Patrol for 'Set The Fire to The Third Bar'.

He joined the band for the song at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Tuesday night (Nov. 24) after Snow Patrol front man Gary Lightbody heard Corden singing drunkenly in a bar.

Speaking to the BBC, Corden explained, "Gary and I were drunkenly singing together in a bar the other night and he said I should come and sing with them at the Albert Hall.

Jamie T is following his recent UK album charts success with something a little more humble, apparently -- a live covers band.

The singer-songwriter told BBC 6 Music he wanted to play shows covering other people's material.

He's not the first to undertake such a project this year. Supergrass offshoot Hot Rats have also been playing cover-only live sets.

"I seem to spend a lot of time talking about starting a covers band at the moment, which I'm thinking of doing with a couple of friends."